China Eastern Airlines celebrates second anniversary of jetliner C919

China Eastern Airlines celebrated on Wednesday the second anniversary of the commercial operation of the nation's self-developed jetliner C919, which has demonstrated outstanding performance in operation and is widely recognized by passengers.

As of Tuesday, its C919 fleet has accumulated more than 28,000 hours of safe flights, operated over 11,400 commercial flights that transported more than 1.57 million passengers, according to the company.

China Eastern Airlines received the world's first C919 on Dec 9, 2022, which made its debut commercial passenger flight from the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport to the Beijing Capital International Airport on May 28, 2023, marking the official start of the commercial operation of the home-grown aircraft. Currently, the company is operating the jetliner on 14 routes connecting 12 domestic cities from across the nation.

With proven commercial success, the jetliner is receiving extensive recognition from both pilots and passengers. To date, the company is home to over 127 pilots and more than 640 flight attendants of C919.

"The C919 has offered our crew even better experience than we imagined. We are continuously deepening our understanding of the aircraft in training and flight practice, and have found many innovative and unique features in aspects such as system design, handling, and interaction," said Shang Feng, captain of the commercial launch flight and general manager of the C919 flight department at China Eastern Airlines.

Since the C919 entered commercial operation, an increasing number of passengers are choosing to fly on the aircraft, contributing to a maintained load factor of C919 flights of nearly 80 percent. Over the past two years, the C919 crew has received over 1,000 letters from passengers praising the flight experience, proving a high recognition and attention of the aircraft, according to the company.